Healthy Turn Out for UDP UK Demonstration
by Femi Peters junior
The planned United Democratic Party [UK] demonstration, in conjunction with the Coalition of Human Rights Gambia[ UK], which was triggered by the unlawful imprisonment of the party’s Campaign Manager Mr Femi Peters on the 1st April, went quite well yesterday, Thursday, 15th April, at both the Nigerian and Gambian High Commissions in Trafalgar Square and Kensington respectively. An impressive turn out of Gambians, from within and outside London, as far as far-flung Coventry, answered the call and showed up to channel their utter disapproval over the curtailing of Peters’ rights as a citizen.
First port of call was the Nigerian High Commission in Central London where the demonstrators, among them Femi Peters Junior and Regina Moore, the jailed politician’s kids, where, for an hour, they made their feeling known. Placards depicting ‘Femi Peters, Prisoner of Conscience’, ‘Free Femi Peters Now Without Condition!’, ‘Do Not Aid Jammeh’, ‘Right To A Fair Trial Inalienable,’ were brandished. ‘Nigerian judges out of Gambia,’ ‘Your hands are stained with the blood of innocent Gambians’ among other chants were voiced out.
At the end of the demonstration, a petition was handed over to a representative of the Nigerian High Commissioner, who promised to get back to his boss with it.
Speaking on behalf of the demonstrators, the chairman of UDP UK, K Kanyi, made it clear to the representative that their actions shouldn’t be viewed as anti-Nigerian.
‘I love Nigerians and I got lot of Nigerian friends. We just want to see the back of Nigerian judges, who are serving the interest of not the Gambian people but one of man,’ he emphasised.
Kensington, in South West London was the final stop for the demonstrators where, at the Gambian High Commission, the turn was even healthier, among them author Ebrima Chongan.
‘You are all serving a dictator and you know it,’ they chanted at High Commission staff who, for some reason, thought it best to keep the doors locked.
‘Today it is Femi Peters, tomorrow it would be your dad and you will know how it feels,’ Kabir, a demonstrator, hollered down the letter box. ‘We pay your wages so open this door!’
Attempts to have them open the door and talk to Femi Peters’ kids and receive the petition didn’t take off.
In the end, placards and the petition were shoved through the letter box.
In an interview, Regina Moore voiced her displeasure at the locked door treatment.
‘The jailing of my dad is barbaric, ugly and so backward. The least they (High Commission staff) would have done is come out and talk to us,’ she said, adding that her dad’s political affiliation doesn’t warrant a jail sentence. ‘It makes us all look bad and undemocratic as a nation. It is a sad day for Gambians, irrespective of political or apolitical ends.’
Speaking on behalf of the Peters family, an emotional Femi Peters Junior thanked the demonstrators for turning up and supporting the cause.
‘You should have all been somewhere but you chose to come and support and lend a hand. I hope this demonstration will help us all achieve what we all strive for- a better Gambia and the unconditional release of my dad.’
A fellow demonstrator prophesized that this is not the conclusion. ‘We will keep demonstrating till they listen. If we don’t speak up, they will think it is okay to rule with impunity and jail anyone who holds different political beliefs to their own on the flimsiest of excuses.’
by Femi Peters junior
The planned United Democratic Party [UK] demonstration, in conjunction with the Coalition of Human Rights Gambia[ UK], which was triggered by the unlawful imprisonment of the party’s Campaign Manager Mr Femi Peters on the 1st April, went quite well yesterday, Thursday, 15th April, at both the Nigerian and Gambian High Commissions in Trafalgar Square and Kensington respectively. An impressive turn out of Gambians, from within and outside London, as far as far-flung Coventry, answered the call and showed up to channel their utter disapproval over the curtailing of Peters’ rights as a citizen.
First port of call was the Nigerian High Commission in Central London where the demonstrators, among them Femi Peters Junior and Regina Moore, the jailed politician’s kids, where, for an hour, they made their feeling known. Placards depicting ‘Femi Peters, Prisoner of Conscience’, ‘Free Femi Peters Now Without Condition!’, ‘Do Not Aid Jammeh’, ‘Right To A Fair Trial Inalienable,’ were brandished. ‘Nigerian judges out of Gambia,’ ‘Your hands are stained with the blood of innocent Gambians’ among other chants were voiced out.
At the end of the demonstration, a petition was handed over to a representative of the Nigerian High Commissioner, who promised to get back to his boss with it.
Speaking on behalf of the demonstrators, the chairman of UDP UK, K Kanyi, made it clear to the representative that their actions shouldn’t be viewed as anti-Nigerian.
‘I love Nigerians and I got lot of Nigerian friends. We just want to see the back of Nigerian judges, who are serving the interest of not the Gambian people but one of man,’ he emphasised.
Kensington, in South West London was the final stop for the demonstrators where, at the Gambian High Commission, the turn was even healthier, among them author Ebrima Chongan.
‘You are all serving a dictator and you know it,’ they chanted at High Commission staff who, for some reason, thought it best to keep the doors locked.
‘Today it is Femi Peters, tomorrow it would be your dad and you will know how it feels,’ Kabir, a demonstrator, hollered down the letter box. ‘We pay your wages so open this door!’
Attempts to have them open the door and talk to Femi Peters’ kids and receive the petition didn’t take off.
In the end, placards and the petition were shoved through the letter box.
In an interview, Regina Moore voiced her displeasure at the locked door treatment.
‘The jailing of my dad is barbaric, ugly and so backward. The least they (High Commission staff) would have done is come out and talk to us,’ she said, adding that her dad’s political affiliation doesn’t warrant a jail sentence. ‘It makes us all look bad and undemocratic as a nation. It is a sad day for Gambians, irrespective of political or apolitical ends.’
Speaking on behalf of the Peters family, an emotional Femi Peters Junior thanked the demonstrators for turning up and supporting the cause.
‘You should have all been somewhere but you chose to come and support and lend a hand. I hope this demonstration will help us all achieve what we all strive for- a better Gambia and the unconditional release of my dad.’
A fellow demonstrator prophesized that this is not the conclusion. ‘We will keep demonstrating till they listen. If we don’t speak up, they will think it is okay to rule with impunity and jail anyone who holds different political beliefs to their own on the flimsiest of excuses.’
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